1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface mounting apparatus in which a mounter is, at its one side, installed with a tape reel feeder and is, at its other side, installed with a tray feeder so that various semiconductor devices can be easily and rapidly supplied.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been a great deal of developments relating to surface mounting technology using a surface mounting apparatus for manufacturing a Printed Circuit Board (PCB).
The surface mounting apparatus is for mounting a surface mounting device on a PCB. The mounting apparatus is supplied with the surface mounting devices from a device supplier. The mounting apparatus then mounts the devices at mounting positions on the PCB.
Surface mounting apparatus can be divided into a high-speed apparatus and a general-use apparatus by function. The high-speed apparatus can accomplish a high-speed mounting operation because it is constructed to assemble many devices in a short time. Therefore, it has a merit in that it complies with mass production, however, its mounting precision is not good.
Meanwhile, the general-use apparatus can accomplish a high-precision because it is constructed to comply with many devices. Therefore, it has a merit in that it complies with a medium and small production quantities, however, its productivity is not good because of its low-speed mounting operation.
The surface mounting apparatus comprises a feeder (referred to as xe2x80x9ca tape feederxe2x80x9d as below) for supplying a device to be mounted. The apparatus also includes an X-Y gantry for determining a working position, a conveyor for carrying a PCB to be worked, and a head for picking up, in regular sequence, the device from the feeder and for mounting the device on the PCB.
In general, the surface mounting apparatus serves to mount an electronic device on the PCB and can be called a mounter.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional surface mounting apparatus.
The conventional surface mounting apparatus is constructed such that a frame assembly 100 is installed to support the apparatus and is, at its upper portion, installed with a base assembly 102. The base assembly 102 is, at its upper portion, installed with a conveyor system 104 for feeding the printed circuit board and is, at its right side, installed with a tape reel feeder 122 for supplying various semiconductor devices.
The conveyor system 104 is, at its upper portion, installed with an X-Y gantry 106 for moving in left, right, forward and backward directions for mounting electronic devices on the PCB. The X-Y gantry 106 constructed with a gantry frame 109 to support the X-axis and Y-axis.
The gantry frame 109 is installed with a mounter head assembly 108 for mounting the devices on the PCB.
The tape feeder 122 is operated such that when a PCB is supplied by the conveyor system 104, and a tape reel serves a device to a reel receiving unit, the mounter head assembly 109 moves to pick up the semiconductor device and to mount the device on the PCB.
The mounter head assembly 109 is installed with a mounter head 107, which is installed with a suction nozzle 120 for sucking the device. The mounting head 107 is also installed with a vision unit 114 for checking whether the sucked device is mounted correctly on the PCB. Furthermore, the conveyor system 104 is installed with a stopper assembly 110 for stopping the PCB at the working position and is installed with a pusher 116 for moving the PCB upward and is, at its lower portion, installed with a magnet 118 for fixing the pusher 116 to the base 102.
However, the conventional surface mounting apparatus having the above construction has problems. Because the electronic deices are supplied only by the tape feeder, mounting operations can not be rapidly accomplished.
Furthermore, when different-sized devices must be mounted on a PCB, a working operation must be stopped to allow new tape reels served with appropriate sized devices to be hung to the tape reel receiving unit of the tape feeder.
The present invention solves the above problems. It is an object to provide a surface mounting apparatus which, at its one side, is installed with a tape reel feeder and is, at its other side, installed with a tray feeder so that various semiconductor devices can be easily and rapidly supplied.
To accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a surface mounting apparatus provided at its one side with a tape feeder and provided at its other side with a plurality of trays served with various semiconductor devices.
The tray feeder comprises: a supplying tray for supplying semiconductor devices to be mounted on a printed circuit board; a serving tray for positioning the device after it has been picked up by a mounter head; and a vision device for detecting whether the picked up device has the required mounting pins.
The tray feeder may also include a transfer device for feeding the trays served with the semiconductor chips. The transfer device includes a tray holding unit for moving a tray.